The More You Know
We were today years old when we learned Jacob deGrom hit his only collegiate home run off Chris Sale
Wednesday was kind of a nice day for Jacob deGrom. After being on the IL since May 9th with right-side tightness, on Tuesday night the Mets ace made his return to the big-league bump, pitching five innings while giving up just three hits and one earned run. Most importantly, however, the minor-league MASH unit that is the New York Mets finally managed to back deGrom up, squeezing out a couple runs to defeat the Rockies and somehow stay atop of the NL East. You could write books on how the Mets offense has failed deGrom over the years, so earning a third win to go with his .80 ERA must have been a nice surprise.
Then, on Wednesday morning, deGrom woke to footage of his first and only collegiate home run making the rounds on the occasion of its 11th anniversary. Ordinarily this wouldn’t exactly constitute news, but press play and you’ll see why it does.
Yep, that’s right. That’s Chris Sale—as in 2018 World Series clincher Chris Sale—on the mound for Florida Gulf Coast. We’re going to level with all of you right now: This is a thing we just learned.
We had no idea that A. the greatest current pitcher in baseball even had a collegiate home run and B. that it came off another notable ace from the era. Hell, hit the buzzer if you knew deGrom played for Stetson University and again if you know where Stetson University even is. We gotta be down to like five people at this point.
So there you have it. Another day, another remarkable Jacob deGrom fact. Needless to say, we can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.